Turtle Story
by mcellist24
Summary: Hi everyone. This is a quirky, silly, emotional, and action-packed story about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This was originally created roughly around 5 years ago. My co-writer has not been in touch since we wrote this so I took the liberty of sharing this with you.
1. Episode 1, An Unexpected Ally

"Hey Don, can you fix my iPod it's not working!" Mindy asked Donatello as she went over to his technological work area with her pink iPod.

"Sure, I can update it for you too if you want?" Donatello replied cheerfully turning around with his swerving chair, his brown eyes curious behind his purple mask.

"Cool! Thanks Donnie!" Mindy exclaimed skipping off to watch 'How it's Made'. Suddenly the orange masked trouble-maker ran into the room.

"Mindy! I'm hungry, make me some pizza!" Michelangelo yelled.

"If you could say please then it'll be done soon." Mindy crossed her arms, her black hair and green eyes shining.

"Ppllleeaasseee!" he begged on his knees as if in prayer.

"Thank you." and with that Mindy went into the kitchen to make sure dinner wasn't burning to smithereens. As she made sure everything was safe her thoughts drifted to her old house. She still had to finish taking all her things out of it and put them down here in the sewer before a buyer came. Living with four turtle brothers could really make a girl on top of things turn into a procrastinator.

Mindy's adopted turtle brothers had come to her aid after her mother had passed away and things had turned from bad to worse. Mindy looked at the steaming pizza in the oven one last time before heading out the lair to make sure the movers knew where to put everything.

Just a few blocks away things weren't going as well for another family. A thin girl with long dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes stepped out of a neat brick home. Her shoulders were slightly hunched with anger as she stumbled down the front steps with heaped boxes blocking her view. When Lily finally managed to get down them without too much injury she whirled around, furious.

"I hope your happy, Jack!" she yelled at him.

"I am," he said simply. The figure known as Jack leaned against the door frame casually. He had brown hair and the same intense sapphire eyes. They had just lost their parents and Jack had quickly kicked Lily out as soon as he had heard in their will that he owned the home. Lily stomped down the sidewalk, shoved her boxes in the passenger seat, then hopped into the rusty truck and drove off.

She had to find a house now or she would be sleeping in the streets and sleeping in the streets of New York was never a good idea. Lily drove around through neighborhoods hoping to find something manageable while thick grey smoke trickled out the exhaust tube in the back of her car. Finally she stopped at a house with a "for sale" sign staked into the front yard.

It was a large yellow painted Victorian style house with a wide porch and peeled painted fence around the whole yard. Lily stepped out and came to the front door just as a pair of movers came out carrying a large chair. She walked in cautiously.

Mindy sat on a faded pink couch looking at a picture of six happy people who looked very similar to each other. A signature was at the bottom saying "In loving memory of Jim, Jen, Jackson, Joshua, Jacob, and Jeremiah Stari…" Mindy sighed sadly remembering her old life when a tap from her shoulder made her jump.

"Sorry ma'am, but do you need this couch loaded up too?" the movers face was slightly paranoid under a red ball cap.

"Oh yes, thank you," Mindy said as she stood up still holding the picture.

"Excuse me..?" a feeble voice said at the door and a dark blonde head poked in.

"Oh hi, are you interested?" asked Mindy a little excitedly.

"Yeah, it looks real nice," Lily said looking around, "how much is it?"

"Twenty one grand," Mindy replied happily. She could certainly use some cash, especially since Mikey liked to cook often.

"I'll take it." with a quick look in her wallet, Lily nodded and handed it over to Mindy "Thank you so much."

"Enjoy the place!" Mindy said over her shoulder as she walked out the door and into her blue mustang. She drove for a little bit often looking in her rear view mirrors to make sure no one was following her before turning down alleyways. At last she stopped in the middle of an alleyway between two apartments and parked her car before climbing down a manhole to the lair.

Mindy came into the lair with the picture still caught in her grasp. Donatello was typing away on just one of his keyboards staring at several different monitor screens. Raphael was practicing beating up a dummy giving it numerous fatal blows; while Leonardo sat meditating nearby. No one had seen the comical Michelangelo in a while and though that would have usually worried them they were all too busy stuck in their own activities.

It had been like that for as long as anyone could remember all the way back to when Master Splinter had first vanished and never returned. Mindy sat on the tattered couch tired from a long day and ready to eat the pizza that wavered from the kitchen to the living room. Suddenly the orange masked Mikey came bursting from his bed room doors

"I lost one of my nunchucks!" he exclaimed

Lily had finished unpacking and sat on her inflatable mattress gazing at the house with the light of a single lamp to keep out the looming darkness. She glanced around at the kitchen with its spotless marble table tops but she wasn't paying any attention to that. She had noticed something on the floor. It was two thick straight pieces of wood wrapped in orange cloth with metal chains linking them together, a nunchuck.

She stood up and grasped a hold of one end peering at it curiously. What was a nunchuck doing in an empty house? Lily grabbed a phone book she always had at her side and flipped through it to find Mindy Stari. When she found her she snatched her cell phone and dialed her number. After five rings a voice answered.

"Hello?" Mindy's voice was frantic talking jittery on Lily's end and yelling on the other but Lily couldn't make out what.

"I uh...Have something of yours?"

"Oh yes! Thank you I'll be right over." and with another shout she hung up. Lily waited and soon the door bell rang. She hurried and opened it to see a breathless Mindy panting at her door.

"I believe this is yours." it was more of a question and it made Mindy more nervous.

"Um yeah I'm learning karate." Lily handed it to her satisfied with her answer, but suddenly stared fearfully into the dark when her porch lights illuminated a shadow.

"There's s-something out there," Lily said her voice faltering. Mindy growled and shoved Mikey against a nearby wall just as he was about to become more that a shadow to Lily.

"She could have seen you!" Mindy hissed and grabbed Michelangelo by the end of his mask before dragging him home. Lily slowly closed the door behind her unsure of what had just happened before going to bed on her inflatable mattress.

"What were you thinking of, running off into a strangers home to get your weapon when Mindy already was?!" Leonardo yelled at Mikey the second the two had gone home and explained what had happened. Michelangelo cringed and hung his head. That night Mikey crept into Mindy's room and stood next to her.

"Mindy…" Michelangelo whispered. Mindy sat bolt upright and whacked him hard on his head

"OUCH!" he yelled holding his probably bruised cranium.

"Oh. It's just you Mikey. What do you want?" Mindy grumbled half asleep.

"I just wanted to say I was sorry I was so dumb tonight." Michelangelo's voice was sincere, but Mindy didn't buy into it.

"Yeah, we know you were," she said before going back to sleep. Mikey sighed and walked out before going into his own bed (though it was certainly not as neat and had comic books streamed all over it) and going to asleep.

"Wake up!" Michelangelo yelled from the living room as it echoed through the lair's halls "It's Saturday cartoon time!" instantly Mindy ran out of her bed and met Raphael on the best seat on the couch before grabbing the remote and turning on the TV. Mikey whined at them then slumped over to the lumpy seat.

RRRIIIINNNNNGGGG! Lily moaned as her alarm clock went off and rolled off her bed. It was 7 AM on Saturday and she had to go to work. She quickly got dressed in work clothes that were suitable for going to the laboratory, fixed her hair, and got in her car before going to work. She parked in the employee's only area and went into the tall metal building.

There was waiting for her in his office ready to give her, her first assignment out of the classroom science labs. Lily took the elevator not looking straight into the security cameras like she usually did when she was a kid. When she got to his level Lily walked down the hallway and opened a door with Dr. Ware's name on it. There sat.

He was a very thin man who had a bald head on top but long gray hair circling the rest of his head and his black eyes pocked out of his circular glasses. had a white lab coat on over a gray suit and was looking at some files before Lily came in. A smile spread across his wrinkled face as Lily shut the door behind her.

"Ah Ms. Ponca, I have a special assignment for you today." the doctor's voice was thick with good means but his grin was sly.

"Thank you so much for choosing me. I won't let you down," Lily stated, practically jumping up and down with excitement on what she would be doing to help people in the future.

"As you know, our research mostly contains animals and bacteria that are still undiscovered and what we have found is that instead of going all the way to South America to find them we actually have a great supply of the unknown right under New York's feet. I need you to go down into the sewers and try and find any unknown life forms today, and we need them today because the mayor is seriously considering closing this place down since we haven't found anything and the rest of the other students have either quite or are in South America."

"I will certainly do my best." and with that Lily went to get her supplies and head down into the sewer.

Mindy, Raph, and Mikey were staring with glee at the cartoons when suddenly Mikey turned his head his expression full of alarm.

"What's wrong Mikey?" Mindy asked in question. Raph hardly ever looked away from the TV.

"There's someone here!" as much pranks as Mikey pulled on Mindy, she knew this wasn't one of them.

"I'll see what it is." Mindy got up leaving a terrified Mikey and a cartoon watching Raphael. Mindy opened the door that lead to the sewer and went out. She hadn't brought a flashlight and now she wished she had, it was pitch black. Mindy didn't even have to move from her post at the door when a beam of light blinded Mindy.

"Um...Hello?" Mindy cringed as Mikey started yelling hysterically.

"Oh, uh hello...Wait! You're the lady that gave me my house, what are you doing down here?" Lily had been suspicious from the start and now she wasn't going to leave but find answers to these hard questions that came to mind.

"I uh...Work here." Mindy winced at her lie, even she didn't fall for it.

"You're a biologist too?" Lily cocked her head in confusion "I've never seen you at our building before."

"Okay I'm not really a biologist."

"Then what?" she asked hands on hips. Mindy saw that Lily wasn't falling for the lies anymore.

"Just...go back up please," Mindy pleaded to her, "We-I own this area."

"I have to work here or I'll get fired!" she said harshly.

"This is private property!" Mindy yelled, "If you dare do anything to them I'll..." she muttered under her breath, "oh great…"

"Who is this 'we' you keep talking about?"

"Uh…nobody," Mindy said in her best I'm-not-up-to-something voice. Mikey hopped from foot to foot impatiently, wanting to see who was at the door. Mikey poked his head out of the door.

"Hey it's a girl, and she's kinda cute," Michelangelo said grinning. When Mindy noticed Mikey there she just blew up.

"MIKEY GO AWAY!" Mindy shrieked at him making him run all the way to his room. Then Mindy turned to a very wide eyed Lily. She gave out a blood curdling scream before running as fast as she could away from the lair, dropping her flashlight, and making her white lab coat billow behind her.

"No stop!" Mindy yelled after her trying to catch up. Mindy darted forward and caught the sleeve of Lily's lab coat, "Don't tell anyone about them!"

"Let go of me!" Lily screamed jerking away and running faster.

"They could get killed!" Mindy shrieked. Exhausted with grief, she fell down and cried afraid of what was to come. Leonardo had heard screaming and ran to Mindy covering her in protective arms.

"What's wrong?" he said in a soothing tone.

"She's going to tell!" Mindy bawled. Lily turned around to see who Mindy was talking to and when she saw Leo she let out a shriek and climbed the ladder out of the sewer "No! No!" she cried as she looked up to see Lily climbing up the ladder. Mindy looked up at Leo with tear struck eyes.

"Aren't you scared? You know what will happen to you when you're found out." Leo thought for a moment then nodded.

"It's a scary thought." Mikey had been listening to their conversation and suddenly ran after Lily. He wasn't about to let some human girl take away his comics. Though it was a Tuesday in the middle of a sunny day Mikey wasn't going to stop running.

"Mikey stop!" Leo and Mindy shouted in unison. Michelangelo ascended up the ladder. The sun's intense rays hit him with so much force he almost jumped back down. But when his sight came back he saw Lily just a few yards in front of him and hurriedly climbed out and ran after her.

Lily glanced behind her hearing footsteps and when she noticed Mikey running after her she put herself in full gear as she got closer to the biology research center. When Michelangelo saw distance being put between them he ran harder, did an acrobatic flip over Lily, and came standing in front of her.

Lily had been distracted; staring at the security camera hoping someone would see her being chased by a giant turtle, when she ran right into Mikey. He swiftly scooped her up, in the blind spot of the camera, and ran back to the sewer and toward the lair.

Lily kicked and screamed and tried with all her might to get away but it was no use, there was no escaping the giant ninja turtle that held her fast. As the two came through the lair door everyone turned to stare at them. Leo had finally coaxed Mindy back while Lily and Mikey were running and now they stood gaping at the two.

With two of his brothers standing next to him Mikey tossed Lily to Raphael who in turn threw her to Leo. Leonardo quickly set Lily on the tattered couch, as they all stared at her wondering what to make of her. Lily had been fighting for freedom but now as she realized that she was a prisoner she stopped resisting and lay limp in fear.

Leonardo certainly looked the most agitated apart from Raphael who was keeping a keen eye on Lily.

"Please, calm down we're not going to hurt you," Leo stated reassuringly. Mindy ran to the door and locked it just in case Lily had any ideas of running. Lily only responded by wedging herself deeper into the couch cushions praying this was just a bad dream.

"Look," Leo began with a sigh, "we're all Mindy's got. All her family members are dead. We adopted her as a sister so if something should happen to us she would...well she would probably do something horrible to herself…" Lily didn't respond, "All we're asking of you is to not tell anyone about us because, to them," Leonardo pointed to the city up ahead, "we don't exist…and we'd like to keep it that way"

"And if she gets hurt…" Raphael clenched his fists. Mindy smiled and ran over to Raph and hugged him. She whispered "thank you" in his ear while Lily still stared apprehensively.

"You may go, but please don't tell anyone."

"O-okay," Lily stuttered before practically bolting for the door.

"Is she going to tell?" Mindy looked at Leo worriedly.

"Sadly...I don't know," was his only response.

Lily walked into the biology research center and opened 's door. She hesitated as his full attention was drawn to her.

"I'm sorry I…couldn't find anything." the doctor's face went from a pleased smile to a hard frown.

"Very well," he said and went back to looking at something on his computer. Lily took that as a cue to leave and sulkily went on her way home.

Mindy tossed in her dreams restlessly.

"STOP!" she screamed as the turtles lay on the floor motionless. A dark shadow of a man walked towards Mindy with a horrid grin across his face.

"NNNOOOOO!" Mindy yelled jolting awake in bed. She lay panting when Leo came running in.

"Are you okay?!" his face was streaked with terror.

"It was just a dream…" she reassured him.

"Okay…" Leo glanced back at her before going back to bed.

"It was just a dream..." She reassured herself then lied back down and fell asleep. The wee lights of dawn had barely climbed the horizon with thin ribbons of pink and orange when Mindy snuck out of the lair.

"Okay, I can do this…" Mindy muttered to herself before jogging off to Lily's house. With heart racing she knocked on the door. Lily had been up at least an hour before and had just finished getting ready. She answered the door and her face expressed surprise to see Mindy standing there.

"Oh…uh hi."

"Y-you didn't…tell, did you?" bile of fear from the unknown rose in her throat and she gulped.

"No." Mindy relaxed slightly relieved that her adopted brothers were safe, for now.

"Good…thank...You. It's just…well he told you…"

"Yeah…they scared me pretty good."

"Well, I'd better get back before they worry. Thank you…again."

"Bye…" Lily knew how valuable their secret was but now she was unsure of the future of the biology research center. Mindy then ran off as a pallid light crept slowly over head.

"Mindy! Where did you go?" Leo came over to her as soon as the door to the lair had closed behind her.

"I had to make sure…" Leo's stern gaze softened and he wrapped her in a hug

"It's okay, we scared her a bit, she won't tell"

"I'm glad you're so positive," said Mindy's muffled voice against his shell.

Lily slowly walked into the research center. The elevator ride was like a snail crawling up a wall. By the time she actually got to the 5th floor her heart was thumping frantically against her chest. She was unsure what was to happen to her and that scared her. Lily timidly opened the door to 's office where he sat just like yesterday.

"Ah Lily…it's good to see you," she nodded feebly, "Let's just get to business, since our last attempt to find anything to save our company was a failure and we have nothing to fall back on I'm afraid…you fired," Lily just gaped. She knew her job wasn't very stable at the moment but she never realized just how badly.

"What?"

"I'm sorry Lily." she stood there for a moment in shock then slumped out of the room. Lily started her cars engine and drove home wondering what she would do. As lily plopped on the couch Mindy went for a jog listening to her new and improved iPod. Suddenly a loud knock came at Lily's door and with a huff she got up and opened it.

The figure was in some type of suite of metal with two long gray daggers coming from a dark metal glove. The persons face was concealed by a thick metal Japanese style helmet with three points coming from the top and a cloth covering his mouth.

Everything about the person was jagged, severe, powerful, and just plain frightening. The two beady eyes that stuck out from underneath the cloth looked positively red.

"Hello?" Lily said confused. This certainly wasn't a girl scout selling cookies.

"Where are they?" the figure asked. By the harsh tone of voice it was unmistakably a man.

"Where are who?" the man seemed to have lost patience. His weapon covered hands tightened into fists.

"The turtles, you idiot! Where are they!" he shouted and grabbed Lily by the neck, dragged her out of her house, and slammed her spine hard against the brick wall of her home. Lily screamed and blacked out, losing consciousness. Mindy had been jogging around Lily's neighborhood, still unsure of what to think if her when she heard Lily cry out and ran to her house. When Mindy turned a corner and saw the weapon coated man there on her old porch holding a limp Lily, she stood shocked.

"No...No...No, no, no, no, no, no!" she screamed and grabbed her shell cell, the only contact device they could have with one another.

"Guys," she always called them that, "get to my old house NOW!" Mindy practically screamed into the shell shaped cell phone.

"What is it?" Leo had been the first to respond and answered her demands in question.

"No time to explain, NOW!" she yelled and didn't even wait to hear his reply, "HEY IDIOT! YEAH, YOU SHREDDER!"

"What! Oh she must know where they are," Shredder said to himself and dropped Lily before coming at Mindy. When she saw him coming, her voice turned small like a scared child.

"Oh uh…guys…you're supposed to come now…AAAAAHHHHHH!" she screamed as Shredder went into a full out run after her, "GUYS HURRY UP!" Mindy shrieked into the tiny communicator. Then Lily woke up. Her eye lids lolled open slowly and she rubbed the back of her head where it had hit against solid brick.

She carefully picked herself up leaning on the veranda's rail still only partly conscious. Once Lily saw Mindy and her pursuer she found strength to go on. Lily ran off her porch and raced to the humanoid victim. Mindy was running as hard as she could muster, all of her might into getting away. But one thing is bad about New York roads; they have bumps and cracks in them from years of use.

And now Mindy was to be subject to the mayor's carelessness. She felt her foot connect with a pothole, small but lethal in certain situations, as it sent her feet flying beneath her and head rushing to the broken concrete. With several scratches and bruises Mindy gingerly propped herself on her elbow to see what was of her pursuer.

Shredder had seen her fall and now towered over with a smug grin, or at least it looked like that from under the tight cloth. He grabbed Mindy tight and hauled her into the air, her feet dangling far from the ground. Lily screamed in terror first for Mindy and then for the four giant turtles that had suddenly appeared.

"Let her go!"

"Put her down!" Lily's and Raphael's demands and threats intertwined into a giant smoldering roar. Mindy coughed and choked gasping and sputtering for air. Lily's anger grew. She had just met this girl but she felt a great sense of determination to protect her. Thick patches of striped fur sprouted from her skin as she ran. Her human eyes became like a cats, thin black slits instead of pupils. She fell on all fours her hands and feet becoming huge furry paws, claws unsheathed.

Suddenly she exploded into a massive tiger, teeth bared. With her first and only thought as to tear apart the maniac holding Mindy she barreled into Shredder. The wind was knocked right out of him and fell hard letting Mindy slip from his grasp. Lily snarled as she stood on top of shredder ready to use her claws. Suddenly she realized what she had done.

She had just showed her enemies her secret and now they would probably use it against her, and besides Mindy would be safe with them, the enemy was of course her brothers. Lily quickly turned back to human and ran back to her house away from suspicious eyes and tried to get the fear struck look of Mindy's face by going to bed. Raphael was on a rampage. That dumb shredder had hurt his little sis' and now he was going to pay.

"I'll kill him!" Mikey shouted and ran at Shredder. He easily knocked him back, "Agghh!"

"That's it you ugly idiot!" Raph shouted and punched Shredder with all his strength sending him flying across the street.

"Leo, you'd better get back here…" Donatello trailed off as he looked at Mindy in concern.

"Why? What's wrong?" Leonardo asked coming over to kneel beside Don.

"Mindy..." Mindy was breathing irregularly, it coming in short sharp gasps "she's been stabbed" Donatello delicately picked the injured girl and carried her to the lair along with a worried Leo, sore Mikey, and furious Raphael who was all too close to breaking his sai. By morning Donatello was exhausted, still trying to help Mindy. Raphael walked into the room and went over to the brainiac's lab where he was working feverishly.

"Is she okay?"

"I'm not sure…" the fear in his voice rang loud and clear. Raph in his fury of shredder stomped out of the lair and went to the woods to vent. It was the only safe place after security cameras on the roof had become a tradition. When he found his wonted tree stump he sat down still enraged with fists clinched.

Lily had snuck out of her home glancing both ways. If she was going to do this she would have to do this now. She hurried to the woods just next to central park. The sun had hardly come up but she was already sweating. Lily's fear of Mindy's adopted brothers had grown through the night and the only way she could put herself at peace was to run away from them as far as possible.

She froze when she saw Raphael and hid behind a tree. She knew he already knew she was here even if his back was turned but she didn't want to start any chance of conversation with the monster. The red masked turtle buried his head in his hands. Lily bit her lip and turned to tiger mode making a run for it.

Her plan was to go to Alaska, it was plenty far and she would easily stay warm if she took on the challenge of becoming total tiger. She would have gotten a plane ticket but with no job there was no money, and she never believed in banks.

Raph thoughts are like Mikey's drawings when they were little, scrambled.

"How could this happen!?" he yells at the ground. His pondering drifted to the girl, Lily "it was the girl's fault! She made Shredder chase Mindy!" his brain buzzed with terrible feelings for her like an angry wasps nest.

Lily's own thoughts are just as confusing. Now she's having second thoughts and its making her mad as well. What am I doing? Running away like this! Her paws slow down and her fur bristles, I'm acting like a kid!

As much as she resents Mindy's turtle brothers she knows she couldn't run away, she'd just have to toughen through. With gritted teeth Lily doubled back heading towards Raphael quickly turning human as she gets closer to civilization.

When Raph saw her coming his anger was his guide. He rushed at her and grabbed her.

"You! You're the reason Mindy is in there dying!"

"What? She's dying!"

"How could you do that to her?"

"I didn't know!" Lily struggled to get out of his hold squirming like a fish in a net. Raphael suddenly snapped out of it, he still blamed Lily for Mindy's troubles but he couldn't be out in the middle of the day harassing people. He quickly let her go and ran to the sewer to by Mindy's side. Lily's face was full of shock, but mostly fears. The thought of Mindy died pierced her heart like when she had found out her parents were pushing up daisies.

Lily had given away one of her deepest secrets to save her and now it seemed as if it was a lost cause. With emotions flying Lily went back home to think. When she finally got there her heart was beating like a drum out of control. Mindy couldn't die, there was something about her that would put Lily in front of any danger just to keep her alive a while longer.

"I have to make sure Mindy is okay," Lily said to herself. Even if Mindy was alive for only a few moments she just had to be beside her. Lily ran out of the house in a frenzy heading straight for the sewer. When her head went under she finally slowed down.

"I hope they let me see her," she murmured to herself and carefully walked through the sewer tunnels. But Raphael was expecting her. The minute Lily came to the lairs door he pounced on her like cat and mouse.

"I don't think so!" Raph stood in front of the door not moving.

"I want to make sure she's okay," Lily protested.

"Right, you nearly kill her now you want to make sure she's okay!"

"I didn't know!" just then Leo came through seeing Raphael troubling Lily.

"Raph! She had nothing to do with this. She was unconscious before Mindy was even in danger!" Raph turned to Lily with a menacing glare

"I'm watching you." Lily ignored the threat and vigilantly came in until which she saw Mindy and ran over to her. Lily stayed by her side anxiously as Don tried feverishly to keep her alive nonstop.


	2. Episode 2, Recuperation and Complication

The night had grown old and a fresh morning woke the weary watchers. Mindy slowly opened her eyes on her resting place of the hard lab table. Lily jerked awake and seeing Mindy also moved hastily.

"Are you okay!?" Lily asked fretfully. Mindy put her hand on her head.

"Ouch…." She gingerly tried to prop herself up. Lily was still worried but over thankful that she was still here and decided to wake everyone up. She felt the fear to them ebbing. Now it was just dull uncertainty. Lily took off her shoe and threw it at Raph who was fast asleep on the tattered couch.

"Wake up! Mindy's awake!" Raph snorted into alertness.

"What? Mindy!" Mindy smiled weakly at them. Leonardo had been dozing on the sofa too and noticing Mindy's consciousness went over to her.

"Hey Mindy, how you feeling?"

"Well depends what you mean? Alive? Or do I feel well?" Leo laughed

"Both."

"Well, my head aches horribly and my left side hurts…but I'm alive!"

"That's good," he grinned enormously. Mikey was slumped in a chair drooling when he slid more and fell out of the chair.

"AHH! WHO-WHA-MINDY!" Lily seemed much more at rest now that Mindy was safe and sound

"Well, now that I know you're okay I'd better go, I need to find another job." Mindy sat up slowly on the table.

"Why?"

"I got fired."

"Why..?"

"Since I didn't find anything down here, and the company was in a crisis; they quite on me."

"Idiots…"

"Yeah."

"They do that aaaaallllllll the time!" Mindy drew out the single word and rolled her eyes.

"I know..." and she did. A few eerie silent seconds past and then Lily left to find a decent job. She grabbed a phone book that was in a newspaper booth and got in her car closing the rusty door behind her before searching in the enlisted jobs section. A small coffee shop that was just down the road caught her eye and Lily quickly turned on the ignition before driving to the front door of the café. Lily got out of her car and opened the front door, a tiny bell jingled like disguised death bells.

"Hello? I'd like to take this job." an old woman with withered skin came out of a door wiping something off her hands onto her apron as she walked over to Lily. She sized her up before speaking in a croaky voice.

"Do you have any experience in making coffee?"

"No, I hate coffee," Lily said in disgust.

"Well then look for another job," she croaked before going through the doors she had just been masked by. Lily went to her car with little hope of finding a job and went home. When she eventually got there she flopped on her bed frustrated.

Mindy's attention was fully on Donatello for the moment

"I owe you so much…I owe you my life, several times." Don blushed slightly and smiled shyly.

"Well…really its-"

"It's everything," Mindy interjected. Donatello moved in the direction of his room

"I'm going to bed."

"Sleep!" Mindy insisted knowing all too well he worked late at night to fix everyone's problems. Mikey started to sob at Mindy's feet.

"You're alive…."

"Oh my gosh, you wimp!" and with that rolled her eyes at the turtle's dramatic show. He continued to cry.

"Jeez…" Mindy then had an idea. She leaned forward and stood up. But her knees buckled and just as she was about fall Leo was there to catch her.

"You had better sit down," he warned and led her slowly to the couch.

"But I wanna go help Lily!" she whined.

"Mindy, just rest," Leonardo uttered in his most parental voice. There was a moment of silence between the two before either of them spoke.

"Mindy, I've been doing a lot of thinking…..do you think we should…?" Leo held up an extra shell cell. Mindy instantly nodded happily.

"Okay, be back..." Leo ran out of the lair with a written slip of paper and the shell cell. He left it on Lily's doorstep and rang the doorbell before running back to Mindy.

Lily heard the doorbell ring and got up before opening the door. When she saw no one was there she looked around then noticing the paper and shell cell picked it up and closed the door. The letter said this:

**Dear Lily**,

**We've decided that you can join our group, please consider. Slide open phone to call.**

"Wow…" Lily exclaimed and sat on the couch to think. This was big. After she had gotten over much of her fear for them she was still suspicious. They knew my secret and who knows, maybe if I opened the phone it would blow up killing me instantly. At that thought Lily inched the shell cell a little further from her.

But she had to get over this; they were just large mutated turtles after all. They couldn't be that smart, could they? In addition, why? I could never live in the sewer with mutated monsters! I wouldn't fit in like that Mindy girl; I'd just be in the way. Lily sighed and timidly slid open the shell cell.

"Hello?"

"Yes?" Leonardo answered.

"Uh…..no thanks," Lily hesitated afraid to get him mad like the red masked turtle.

"Okay…I'll come get the phone…" Leo didn't hide the disappointment in his voice and hung up.

"So?" Mindy asked when Leo hung up with a glum face. He shook his head sadly. He thought she would make a good member with her ability and fit right in.

"Oh..." Mindy replied and looked at the floor. She had really wanted a girl to hang out with; they would have been like sisters. As much as she loved the guys Mindy certainly couldn't talk about boys and clothes with them, especially Leo who couldn't stand the thought of Mindy having a boyfriend.

"Leo, why didn't she take the offer?"

"Don't ask me…"

"True…I'll ask her," Mindy said and tried to get up from her seat on the couch but ended up falling back down on her seat. She then proceeded to give Leo a sad puppy dog face. She knew he always cracked under her puppy dog face.

"Okay, okay I'll ask!" Leo said quickly. Leo went out the lair again to retrieve the shell cell and ask much needed questions. As he ran to Lily's house he made sure to stay in the shadows with the sun high in the sky. When he got there he rang the doorbell Lily almost immediately answered it. He guessed she thought he was never going to leave her alone.

"Hi…"

"Hi, before I leave, Mindy wanted to know why you didn't take our offer and...I'm curious too."

"Well….I'd just feel out of place, I don't belong there."

"Thanks for thinking about it at least."

"I'm sorry…" Leo took the shell cell from Lily's out stretched hand and looking down on his way out noticed the phone book sitting array on the carpet.

"Check page 125, you might be interested." as Leo left Lily picked up the phone book and flipped it to the page. There a large help wanted add from Best Buy.

"Looks like something I couldn't get fired from too fast," Lily said and ran to her car before driving to the closest Best Buy she could find.

When Leo finally got back to the lair Mindy bombarded him with a well need to know question.

"What did she say?" Mindy asked hopefully.

"She'd feel out of place…" Mindy looked at him funny. How could she feel out of place? It may be the sewer but it could pass for a home, and it certainly was and did.

"Um...Okay..."

"Reminder…we're turtles."

"True…I get so used to you guys I nearly forget sometimes." Mindy giggled softly at her mistake. I guess most people wouldn't think of them as family.

Lily walked into Best Buy and went over to the counter where a teenager with the badge 'Manager' was pinned on his blue shirt. He looked quite nerdy with his kind brown eyes, big front teeth, and the fact that he was practically skin and bones.

"I would like to take a job here."

"Yeah, sure when will you start?"

"Today would be good," Lily said enthusiastically.

"Cool!" the manager stated and gave her, her own blue vest, "now just start stalking up appliances on the shelves." Lily nodded and went to work at once.

Mikey snuck into the Best Buy store with a dark brown over coat with its collar turned up and too big black hat. He eyed the aisles slowly until he found what he was looking for and ran to the video game section grabbing a hand full of games and speedily making for the checkout counter. Just when he was about to leave he turned his head back to the video games longingly when he noticed the all new games for his game system.

"There!" he yelled happily drawing a few faces and ran to it, then finally making his way to the checkout counter.

Lily looked around after she had finished staking and noticed the hooded person at the counter. She didn't really know what to do but like every American getting groceries from the store she knew enough to at least help the customer. When she went over to the counter and started scanning his items under the red light she glanced just briefly up at her customer and about had a heart attack. There stood the turtle in a thin disguise. Their eyes connected Mikey smiled broadly and, from the other side of the counter, lifted Lily up into the air for a bear hug.

"Let go of me!" Lily whispered fiercely trying not to bring attention to them. Mikey dropped her quickly looking around again for good measures.

"What are you doing here?" Lily said murmured under her breathe and Michelangelo smiled.

"What else?" was his only response.

"What's wrong with you? I have to work!" Mikey ignored her, glancing around again and saw something he had only see on the television.

"Oh my gosh! No way!" Mikey squealed and, dropping all of his other games, sped over to the new Wii and all its games surrounding it. He grabbed hold of it as if life depended on it and after buying and a few games rushed to a solitude corner in the store and started playing with it. The Wii spoke in a childish voice telling him to stretch into a beginner's position. As Mikey tried to do so he quickly collapsed on the concrete and sighed.

"Ahh! I can't do it" as his turned it off he went back to the video section once again and bought a few dozen games for his Nintendo DS. Mikey then went outside the Best Buy store and played with them still in his 'disguise'.

Lily had decided to work late and as the sun was melting into the horizon the clock ticked to 9 P.M. She was graciously left in care with the keys to lock up. The manager had a few soft spots. Lily was just coming out of the front doors when she noticed Mikey intent in his games.

"Get out of here, its closing time," she said at him, his hat and coat now off as the lights dimmed.

"Not now," Mikey uttered absentmindedly focused completely on his game. Suddenly his head shot up in alarm and he stood up stiff from fear.

"People!" he yelled in fright

"Get out of here you're going to get seen!" Lily shouted at him and he sprinted away as if she had pushed his 'on' button.

Mikey darted all the way to the lair without stopping and was still running around when he burst through the front door. Mindy looked at him like she always did, like he was crazy.

"What's going on!?" Mindy hollered at him. As he ran circles around the lair he shrieked, "I didn't do anything!" and, "Police! Police!" Leonardo had come into the room and watched him in bewilderment.

"What!?"

"What did you do?!" Mindy shouted at him andlearning from Lily, threw her shoe at his head.

Surely enough he was right. Police cars came screeching into the parking lot its lights blinking harshly into Lily's eyes.

"Oh come on!" Lily muttered under her breathe as her hands instantly rose in the air with the cops guns pointed at her. They cuffed her hastily, loaded her into their car, and took her down to the station for questioning. Lily told them what had happened and, substituting for Mikey, said some customer had left their merchandise outside.

She gave them the keys and the manager eventually got called down there too. He felt guilty for giving her the responsibility of locking up and fired her for almost having a criminal record for supposedly stealing paid merchandise from an absent customer. Lily finally got home around midnight and fell asleep on her couch (shoes and all), too tired to do anything else. As she sunk into sleep she murmured:

"Why does this always happen to me?" before passing out on her favorite cushion.

When she awoke fresh anger swirled in her. That stupid turtle lost me another job I might have been able to stay at and now I'm unemployed because of him! Lily was sick of these monsters messing with her life and stomped all the way to the lair in a rampage. As she flung open their door Mikey screamed awake at the sight of her.

"Mikey!" Lily screamed at him and headed straight for the orange masked mutant. Mindy had heard the yelling and came running into the room to stand protectively in front of Michelangelo, though not knowing exactly what was going on.

"Leave my brother alone or I'll kill ya!" Mindy said just as threateningly.

"He got me fired again!" Lily retorted now even angrier as being looked at as the criminal not the victim. Suddenly Mindy closed her eyes tight in pain and gripped her wound. With all this fear her blood had begun pumping quickly and was leaking through the bandages.

"Oww..." she whimpered under her breathe.

"Wow, are you okay?" Mikey now had his attention directed to Mindy and watched her nervously.

"Yeah, yeah…just still hurts…"

"Okay good." as Mikey relaxed Lily was the exact opposite. Her own blood was boiling and her pupils turned to thin black slits. As fur began to sprout and she collapsed on the floor, a deep menacing growl erupted from her throat. Mindy was still in pain but had opened her eyes wide and her and the turtle stared at her in horror as she became the tiger that she was. All of a sudden she charged at Mikey knocking him to the ground. Mikey yelped paralyzed in terror.

"Leave him alone!" Mindy shouted at Lily pleadingly. Lily disregarded the request and roared at Mikey pinning him to the floor.

"Leo!Raph!" bawled Mindy and the two turtles came running out trying to take in everything that was going on. Just as lily had extended her claws, her wrath at its fullest heights ready to give the death blow, Leonardo and Raphael darted over to her and yanked her off of their to-be-dead-brother. Lily had lost practically all hope of calming down and turning back to normal and tried to slash through their arms.

Mindy shrieked gasping for breath and Mikey ran to his room locking the door tightly. As Lily struggled even more Mindy was able to get a grip and calm down knowing that Mikey was safe. Donatello had been extremely fascinated with Lily's power and had done several tests about the ability to stop and start such energy.

He had made a syringe to stop that energy from being created and it was highly experimental but considering the circumstances he had little choice. As Donatello inserted the purple liquid Lily slowly turned back to human. Her anger was still there, though not her power, and she ran out of the lair in a huff.

Mindy breathed in short breathes and the terror was still new in her eyes.

"Is he oka-"her voice broke and Mindy took a deep breath.

"He's fine," Leonardo said examining Mindy carefully. Mindy took a couple more swallows of air before her heart finally started to really slow down.

"What are we going to do with her?" Mindy asked Leo. All he did was shrug in wonder. She definitely needs to be in our team so she can learn to control that, Leo thought.

"She can't keep coming here uncontrolled," stated Mindy thinking back to when Lily almost killed her brother.

"I know, but what do we do about it?" Leo asked in frustration.

"I'm not sure…" Mindy said looking down at her feet. And she wasn't sure. Who knows what will happen next time Lily comes back.

As Lily finally got home, her face red, she threw the phone book into the trash can. Stupid turtles, messing with my powers and blaming me for everything! Any fear Lily had for them had completely evaporated by loathing hate. Lily closed her eyes tight trying to find the deep inner pulse that brought the tiger in her out. She couldn't feel it.

At first she panicked. They took it away! No! She screamed inside her head. That couldn't happen! But then it revolved right back to the fuming storm. No they couldn't have! I won't let them! Lily dug deeper for the pulse, trying to find it. All she felt was a black emptiness inside her for several painful moments. it was heart aching and it made Lily try even harder. Then there it was, coming out weak but slowly but surely building. She plowed deeper still till it was pumping along with her heart, ready.

Then she took it. Her streaked coat formed covering her in warmth like a safe warm summer's day. As she finished changing Lily burst through the door and into the safe warm summer's day, prepared to bring trouble. If they're going to mess with me, I'm going to mess with New York.

Mindy was watching her favorite "How it's Made" show when a news flash warning interrupted. The reporter was standing just outside of central park with people running away screaming, panic in their eyes.

"There has been a sighting of a tiger in central park, pedestrians are to stay indoors while authorities try to organize the chaos." he then droned on about other things, like how the zoo had taken account of all their animals and none were missing.

"Oh no…" Mindy said as she watched the tiger growl furiously, automatically recognizing the intelligent blue eyes. Suddenly Leonardo came in looking at Mindy in disapproval. He never likes the news station; he thought it worried her too much.

"Enough news channel Mindy, you-oh no..." Leo had looked up and noticed the roaming tiger too.

"What the shell…oh no, it's Lily…" Raphael had come into the room and shook his head in irritation. Mikey came in, heard Raph, saw the tiger, and ran to his room screaming.

"She's gonna kill me!"

"What do we do?" Mindy cried wishing this was all just a dream. Raphael seemed to know what to do. He grabbed Mikey's disguise, put it on, and stormed out the lair with Donatello trailing behind him with his own costume and net he had planned on using in the harbor.

"No!" Mindy didn't want Lily to hurt anyone but she wasn't an animal, mentally. Raphael at long last got to the park where Lily was and positioned himself in front of her, while Donatello hid behind her with his large net. Lily's tail twitched and she growled set to attack.

"Don?" Raphael glanced over at him.

"Ready" he answered. Lily didn't see what was going on but she didn't care, as long as someone payed. She leaped on top of Raph holding him to the ground. Donatello threw the net and it landed on top of Lily entangling her in it as she tried to find a way out. Raph slid from underneath her and lifted her up in his arms grunting slightly.

"Raph, are you okay?"

"Yeah, let's get her to the lair, now!" as they came through the doors silence came, except for Lily's snarling. Donatello went straight to his lab to make more needles while Raph and Leo watched her. Mindy came over to her and frowned.

"Lily, I thought you would be able to control this…" her voice turned from disappointment to sadness. Lily growled at her and Mindy left to her room.

"She's pretty disappointed," Leo said to her. Donatello then came out of his tech cave and gave her another shot.

"That's for while a make a longer lasting one." then he went back to work. As Lily turned human she threw the net off of her and stood up.

"Who cares what Mindy thinks, I'm getting out of here," Lily said angrily and started for the door.

"Lily, you know that until you control this power, you'll be sitting here." Leo then grabbed her and hauled her away from the door.

"Let go of me!" Lily yelled at him struggling against his grip.

"No," he said curtly. As Lily thrashed about Leo put her on don's lab table and strapped her to it standing up. While Lily resisted trying to find a way out Leo just shook his head.

"Give up; you'll lose your energy."

"Never!" Lily declared sneering. Leo just shrugged.

"Fine, but that table was made to hold back someone nearly as strong as Hun" Lily kept on fighting the bonds, "Oh well," then he sat down and watched TV. Lily kept on kicking trying to find the pulse again. She dug deeper than she ever had before breaking into cold sweat in the process.

At last she found it. She pushed harder and the tiger in her sprang out. In mere seconds she was the large feline and she clawed at the restraints cutting them off one by one. When Leo turned to see her free he speedily gestured for his brothers to follow and all four turtles strove to hold her back. As Lily fought harder Raph and Leo yelled at her in anger and desperation.

"You idiot! What are you doing this for!?" Raph shouted at her

"You don't have to do this!" Leo pleaded. The next four words that came out of her mouth were gathered up like a storm cloud, of all her most terrible moments and misfortunes and it was not Lily who was speaking then, but the tiger within her that wanted to spate from this terrible bond.

"I hate my life!" she screamed and fought back again. In the shadows, Mindy stood weeping.

"Don't do this," she begged to Lily and herself as she held a kitchen knife.

"Don, do you have anything!?" Mindy yelled at Don.

"Nothing!" he said hopelessly knowing he wouldn't be able to make anything for a few more minutes, and then it would be too late. Suddenly, Lily was able to finally shove them away, knocking them off their feet. As Lily ran for the door Mindy stepped out of the shadows and held the knife above her head letting it shine in the light bulbs overhead.

"Lily, this is for your own good!" and jabbed the knife into her shoulder. Lily howled in pain and fell to the floor unconscious. Mindy dropped her weapon and ran to her room sobbing. Raphael instantly picked her up and set her on the lab table lying down.

"Don, hurry up!" he yelled impatiently. Any moment Lily would wake up from her cut and who knows what she would do then.

"Almost…done…..there!" he said as he finally finished the syringe. As he gave her the needle he crossed his fingers. Lily turned human and slowly awoke. Her hand involuntary went to her head and she moaned slightly. Mindy walked out of her room keeping her distance from everyone.

"Uhhh… my head hurts." Don knew it was from so many injections but he couldn't worry about that, just the fact that she was alive and healthy was enough for him. Don turned to Raph.

"Now, let's just hope its permanent, like planned." Lily's mouth gaped open and she sat bolt upright.

"What!?" she screamed.

"I'm sorry Lily." she jumped off the table her ears already starting to turn bright red.

"You took away my powers!?" this time she did sound as shocked but more in rage.

"Well, I guess you could put it that way….there was nothing else to do."

"That's the only thing I've lived for for the past ten years!" it was true ever since her father had become sick and her mother was never home, everything had fallen apart but with her power she could escape to her own sanctuary. Donatello stayed silent and Lily trudged out of the lair. Mindy closed her eyes and ran back to her room. Don followed frantic to know what was upsetting her.

As Lily slammed the door of her car behind her her thoughts were preoccupied, but with terrible ideas. What's the most efficient way to kill yourself? Drowning is out of the question, I can swim too well and I doubt I would be able to throw myself off a building without being harassed by a million people. Well...I guess Africa does have a lot of deadly snakes.

And with her mind made up Lily revved up her engine and started for the air port. When she got there she just managed to scrape her pocket for enough money and hopped on a plane to Kenya looking around suspiciously for any disguised green turtles or a hysteric girl. But eventually she fell asleep just as they were half way across the Atlantic Ocean.

"Mindy, what's wrong?" the purple masked turtle stepped closer to her. Mindy didn't respond, but her shoulders shook as she whimpered.

"Mindy? Really what's wrong?" she whirled around showing tear stained cheeks.

"You heard her! You probably just killed her!" Mindy yelled at him .

"What! She's fine!" Don said taken aback.

"Not that! Don't you understand, she's going to kill herself!"

"How do you know that?"

"Did you not hear what she said before she left?"

"Mindy...how are you sure she is going to?"

"Don we are wasting time!" Mindy shouted and ran out of the room and to Don's lab, "You have to have something in here…" Mindy eyed a needle that had 'Speed' printed on it and took it before taking a few deep breathes and running to the air port. She assumed Lily would most likely be out of state if not country.

Lily jolted awake as the plane came to a halt and tons of people tried to shuffle out of the one exit all at once. She managed to get in line and make it out safely with out to much damage. When she finally got outside she already started sweating.

The sun was intensely hot and everybody was either carrying an umbrella or in short pants and shirts while Lily was wearing a jacket over her shirt and jeans. Lily rented a car looking for a safari. Luckily it wasn't too hard, when Lily found what she was looking for she payed the man at the merchandise counter, giving her first and last name for residents purposes, and drove off not glancing at the 'Do not get out of your vehicle at all times' sign.

Mindy ran to the airports counter on her toes in anxiety.

"What plane left last?"

"To Kenya, Africa," the man said sleepy eyed. Mindy nodded her thanks then ran out of there so fast no one saw her as she was already half way across Manhattan and treading on the ocean to Africa. The wind and salt water whipped her face throwing back her long black hair and soaking her clothes.

Mindy started to slow down as she came on land and got closer to her destination. She checked wildlife conservations after another and soon she was panting heavily. Lily where could you be? Mindy was finally able to make a dent through the list of conservations and came to the safari.

"Lily…" she murmured as she came to the desk of the man supervising the merchandise

"You...Say you search a Lily Ponca?" the man asked

"Yes, her name is Lily!" Mindy said hopefully her spirits starting to lift.

"She went through that gate ma'am but be sure to watch out for de black mamba, it's awfully dangerous going without vehicle." but Mindy had already left just barely hearing the last of his advise as she ran frantically trying to find Lily.

She circled madly looking and searching for her. At last just up ahead she saw a jeep in the distance. Mindy ran with the last of her 'Speed' power and came to a halt panting beside the car seeing Lily just off the worn path.

"Lily!" she cried with joy. There she held a long black snake with its mouth securely clamped shut in one hand and its tail coiled around her other. Lily whirled around starring at her in shock

"Mindy!?"

"Lily! Please…let…me…just say one thing…at least before you do this!" she wheezed.

"Why should I?" Lily hissed at her, her eyes narrowed.

"I just need you to know something!" Lily paused in thought before speaking again.

"Okay but hurry up," she snapped.

"Whe-when shredder attacked me….it was because I lured him away from you…to save your life...I nearly died...for you!"

"So" Lily said bitterly and let the black mamba bite her hand. She screamed so loud Mindy was sure the man guarding the merchandise could hear before Lily collapsing on the ground. Hot tears streamed down Mindy's sun burnt face as she picked up Lily and ran with all her strength to the nearest hospital.


	3. Episode 3, False Deaths

"Will she be okay?!" Mindy asked a doctor as he walked past while Lily was in the emergency room.

"We won't know until the anti venom has been injected." Mindy nodded and sat in the waiting rooms hard plastic chairs. The large fan meant to be air conditioning blew in her face making her eyes water. After many hours the doctors found her asleep across to chairs and an empty potato chip bag on her stomach. They shook her awake and let her sit beside Lily.

"She's going to make it," they said softly and left her to be alone. Mindy made her way to Lily's room and watched her sleep peacefully. After another thirty minutes Lily's eyes slowly opened. Mindy felt her shift and quickly moved into an upright position.

"Lily!" her eyes started to cloud with water and Lily looked down with a shameful expression.

"Hi..." she said slowly, "I'm so sorry…." Mindy just smiled.

"It's okay."

"No its not! I've ruined everything."

"It's fine! Unless you're dead…that's twice now." Lily shook her head in frustration.

"I don't deserve to live; I have done nothing to make this situation better."

"Lily! Look at me," Mindy put her head in her hands, her face pulled together to make a serious expression, "Don't you dare say that!"

"But it's true…" she said softly filling as if she was a little kid being scolded.

"Lily…" Mindy said again more delicate.

"Yes..." Lily responded looking away from her searching gaze.

"It would hurt me if you died."

"It shouldn't," was all Lily said

"Lily, listen to me!" Mindy's ferocity came back, "You are not going to kill yourself. I've risked my life for you….both times…face it; you're not going to die with me around. It's just not possible."

"I don't care anymore if I die! But you're killing me trying to be nice like that. I don't deserve it!" as Mindy stayed silent Lily thought more on the subject of saving lives.

"Why would you risk your life like that….for me?" Mindy didn't know it but just like Lily deep inside her she had a terrible instinct, a longing, to keep her safe no matter what.

"I care about you Lily," she said sentimentally. Lily's hands tightened on the blanket that covered her.

"Stop it! You should just leave me right now! I was so stupid!" Mindy took a deep breath so her emotions wouldn't control her.

"Lily, you know how you said I'm killing you by being nice...?"

"Yes…" she answered suspiciously.

"Well you're killing me by acting like you don't care. I've saved your life!" and with that Mindy walked out in stiff determined steps. Lily signed in frustration and leaned back into the bed.

Mindy had gone to a nearby airport and bought a ticket to New York.

"Reserve this under Ponca," she told the desk manager. Then she left wincing slightly as she walked out.

After another day in the hospital Lily was released and able to go on her way. She tried to keep her thoughts away from the turtles and Mindy and concentrated on driving to the airport. As she said her name to the desk manager the smiled at her and said a plane ticket was already reserved for her.

Mindy. Lily graciously took the ticket and climbed on plane. As she came out of the airport in New York she saw the familiar disguised figures talking among themselves. Lily scooted closer to them to see what was being said.

"Where is she?!" Lily could tell it was Leo's voice and was very distressed. Leo then turned to Don in anger and stress, "Don, I can tell you know" he just shrugged.

"She took my Speed shot."

"No!"

"Yes she did."

"Oh no…

"Is she trying to kill herself!?" this was Raphael who spoke out now.

"No," Don reassured, "Lily is. Mindy is trying to help her." Lily bit her lip and took a step back when their eyes started searching the crowd again. But before Lily could quickly walk away from them they saw her and briskly came to over to her.

"Lily!" Lily grimaced in surprise at his relieved tone.

"Hi…" she kept her head down feeling more than ashamed of the past events.

"Are you okay! What happened?"

"I was being stupid," Lily murmured under her breathe

"Where is Mindy?" Leo was already looking over Lily's shoulder. Lily shrugged.

"I don't know…" Lily looked up at their faces and hers turned to a frown, "I thought she was here."

"She's not…" Leo's eyes were far way but still filled with that intense worry.

"This is bad" Don exclaimed. Suddenly Leo snapped back to his original self.

"What are we going to do!?" abruptly Lily changed. Her eyes grew hard and her hands turned to fists.

"I'm going to go look for her."

"We don't even know where she is!" Don protested.

"No!" was Leo's only answer.

"Why not?" Lily retorted

"She could be anywhere…" Lily thought over this.

"Hmm...She might still be in Africa."

"Or China!" Leo reminded her, "She could be anywhere!"

"How?"

"She took Don's Speed shot." Lily nodded remembering that part of their conversation she had overheard.

"How long does it last?"

"It was a test; he doesn't know…there could be horrible side effects."

"Well I'm going to Africa to see if she's still there."

"Okay," Leo sighed seeing her determined look again. Lily turned on her heel and got another ticket to Africa. She didn't have much of a plan except look everywhere and hope for the best. After getting off the plane and renting a jeep she headed for the desert. The sun seemed to hold a grudge on her and beat down even harder. The rays baked the sand as if the whole of Africa was in a gigantic earthly frying pan. Lily didn't even want to think what the fire was like.

Lily blinked out the sticky water in her eyes and squinted in the distance. The sand waved lazily in front of her eyes but she was sure she saw a shape, a human shape in the sand. She sped up her heart getting excited as she got closer. There she was. Lily recognized Mindy's black hair and jumped out of the jeep running over to her.

"Mindy!" Lily cried out as she got closer putting her hand in Mindy's. Suddenly her eyes fluttered open in surprise.

"What happened!?" she panted searching for any injury on her. Mindy licked her dry lips and strained to see through some invisible cloud.

"I was trying to come home…but I fell and...Couldn't get up...I feel pain everywhere!"

"I'll get you home," Lily promised and gingerly picked her up, set her in the passenger seat and drove to the nearest hospital. Mindy winced and tried to stifle the moans on the way. When they got hold of a doctor Lily was quick to try and solve the problem.

"Doctor I think she broke something." he nodded and did a quick check up on Mindy incase anything else was wrong.

"Well let's get some x-rays and see if we can find the problem." he helped Mindy up from her seat on the waxed paper coated table and set her in the x-ray room. Lily waited impatiently. When they had come back the doctor was holding dull black and white flimsy sheets in his hand. As Mindy eased onto the table the doctor popped them into a white board and flipped a switch.

A bright light came on and showed an incredibly detailed photo of Mindy's skeletal system. Neither had broken anything so far and the gasped in surprise. Of course they were in high school and knew about bones and such but it was nothing compared to looking at real bones. The doctor examined them glazing his finger across the white parts.

"How's it look?" the doctor sighed in confusion.

"She's fine…nothing's wrong…at all" Lily exhaled in relief and the doctor, still a bit baffled, smiled.

"Well thank you for bringing her in, even when there was nothing wrong it was the right thing to do."

"You're welcome," Lily smiled warmly at him and helped Mindy off the table.

"Lily, it still hurts," Mindy whimpered to her quietly wincing.

"I can carry you," Lily offered.

"Take me to Don," she pleaded grimacing again, "he's the only one who will be able to help me, if anyone."

"Okay," Lily said rather worried after what the doctor had just said. After finally getting checked out of the hospital they took another flight to the Big Apple. As they got off the plane Lily scrambled to get them to the lair. Mindy moaned and closed her eyes tight as she descended down the sewer's ladder.

Lily heard footsteps coming their way and minutes later Donatello came running to them. He carefully picked Mindy up and they went to inside; Donatello laying her on the lab table. Lily crowded around the table with the others right behind her.

"We went to a hospital in Africa and the doctor said she was fine but she says everything is hurting….is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know. I'm using everything I have to see anything wrong with her." Lily looked at the ground thinking of anything that could help the case.

"Mindy, how did you trip?"

"I didn't, I was running and then stopped to rest because I was really tired…..I lied down….and when I woke up everything was hurting." as if to emphasize her eyes closed tightly again and her lips turned white as they were pressed together.

"Do you think you were bitten?"

"I can't tell-"

"I would be able to see poison immediately," Don cut in.

"What about shot side effects?"

"I've already looked at it and it doesn't appear to have anything to do with the shot."

"Did you see any animals near you when you rested?" Lily asked certain that the pain was indeed from Africa.

"Nothing, but sand everywhere."

"Hmmm…what else is dangerous in Africa?" Lily shuffled her feet so she paced around but close to the table.

"One thing that could have happened is a mosquito" then Don started murmuring about lions and plants but eventually shook his head, "it would have to be a mosquito because they have killed more people than anything else"

"What if..." Mindy said quietly, "it had nothing to do with the shot…or Africa?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if...it was Shredder…When I got stabbed…what if he had some sort of untraceable poison?"

"That sounds reasonable," Lily shrugged.

"That's the most likely thing…I'm fairly sure a mosquito bite would show up."

"But what kind is the problem," hearing Lily say that automatically put Don on some auto system and he heaved up a huge dusty book almost bigger than the table and started flipping through it. From the corner of her eye Lily saw Raphael sneak out a back way. Lily didn't think much of it and went back to looking over Don's shoulder.

"Did you uh…read about Simpluges? I heard it's pretty deadly," Don quickly flipped to Simpluges and read the description aloud.

"Rare, Can be completely untraceable, can cause pain throughout whole body, and is often….fatal."

"What's the antidote?" Lily asked quickly.

"It doesn't say."

"Well we have to do something! We can't just let Mindy die!" Lily saw slow movement and turned to see Raphael sneaking back in, go to his room, then slip out again. Lily turned to Don.

"What's with Raph?"

"What do you mean?" Don said looking up at her.

"He keeps sneaking out."

"He always leaves…"

"Oh," Lily replied looking at her shoes.

"He thinks he's such a hero," Don grumbled, "especially when it comes to..." Don suddenly went silent.

"What?" Lily inquired.

"Oh no..."

"What?" Lily pressed on wondering

what had made his face so fear stricken.

"Especially when it comes to Mindy..." Mindy tried to sit up quickly.

"He wouldn't!"

"What? Do what?" Lily asked frustrated that she still hadn't figured out what was going on.

"I told you earlier I suspected Shredder might have poisoned me..."

"Yeah..." Lily said getting annoyed now that she still hadn't figured out what Raph's plans were.

"He's going after shredder!?" Leo announced finally catching on too.

"Without me!" Mindy yelled upset.

"How would he know where he is?" Lily asked Don.

"I gave him tracking devices to put on the Purple Dragon members to fight them...he must have used one on Shredder when he was beating him up for hurting Mindy."

"How is that bad if he's going to fight one of your enemies?" Lily asked yet again still not understanding.

"Lily," Don started, "Shredder is more powerful than anyone….he almost killed you effortlessly."

"True…."

"If Mindy hadn't of lured him away you would probably be dead right now." Lily looked at her shoes again turning red with shame.

"And I can't help…" Mindy whined helplessly.

"You're in pain just sitting up, how could you?" Mindy grunted and slowly relaxed.

"I can't really help either," Lily murmured still staring down and shrugged. Don took hold of Mindy's hand and helped her get to the couch so she could rest comfortably. Lily made her way next to her.

"Rest here…call us immediately if something happens. Mike! Leo! Lily, do you want to come?

"No…" her eyes were still trained on the floor

"Okay…" Don replied and he and the two other turtles left the lair. Suddenly Mindy crossed her arms.

"You okay?" Lily asked.

"No…." she sulked

"Can I do anything?" Mindy just shrugged.

"Hmm…." Lily said trying to think of something.

"I'm starving," Mindy blurted out.

"What would you like to eat?"

"Something edible…I could eat anything right now!" Lily laughed at her dramatic display and heard her stomach rumble.

"Okay," Lily hoped up off the couch and went to the kitchen looking in the cabinets, "How about…soup?"

"It sounds great." Lily grabbed a can of chicken noodle soup, popped off the top with an appearing claw, then stuck it in the microwave and let it spin around for a few minutes. When the microwave beeped she grabbed the can out, stuck a spoon in the can, and went back to the couch before giving it to her. Mindy quickly slurped it down, licking the bowl clean.

"That's the best soup ever made…" Mindy sighed and leaned back, satisfied.

"Canned soup is always good."

"Yeah." Lily thought for a moment getting more bored every second.

"When do you think they'll get back?"

"We're talking about Shredder…it'll be hours…"

"Oh…" Lily sighed.

"Probably come back exhausted and with bad news… the 'oh so surprising' he's not dead news."

"Yeah..." Lily agreed though she didn't really know what any of this was like.

"What should we do?"

"Anything you want to do."

"Ummm…..oh we could! No wait...oh never mind…uhhh..."

"What?"

"I was going to say football but I can't move a muscle without hurting…."

"Yeah…" Lily laughed quietly. She had no clue on how to play football.

"At least I'm getting better," Mindy started optimistically, "I can sit up and eat without it being completely unbearable."

"Uh huh…" Lily replied sarcastically.

"Fine! We won't try football"

"What did I do!?" Mindy ignored the question.

"Can we at least go for a walk?"

"I don't think so."

"Ugg, I hate being cooped up!" Lily just shrugged.

"I'm used to it."

"I'm used to running around every single day!"

"Wow," Lily's voice had turned beyond bored and Mindy was sure it sounded quite depressed.

"Would you join us!? You could do everything with us and live here!" Mindy suddenly blurted out recalling her's and Leo's conversation.

"I can't!" Lily said taken aback and certain she looked like deer in headlights.

"Why!?"

"This is your home not mine, it wouldn't feel right," Lily responded slowly.

"Listen to me…it would feel right you NOT joining us! Ppllleeaasseee! You still owe me for saving your life!" fresh shame came back and Lily quickly gave in.

"Fine, but it's up to the guys." as Mindy started dialing Lily moaned.

"Mmhhhmm okay thanks!" Mindy hung up, "Welcome! Get your stuff!" Lily was sure Mindy had the biggest smile known to man, and turtle. Lily got up, drove to her house, emptied her few belongings, and then came back.

"Where do I go?"

"Yay!" if Mindy could have been jumping up and down she would have right then. She pointed to an empty room down the hall where a squeaky mattress and dusty dresser were stuck in their permanent home. After she had finished up packing she came back to sit down on the couch.

"I'm so happy you're here to stay!"

"Yep." Lily looked at her slightly worried that she might do something scarily unexpected.

"Don't sell the house," Mindy suddenly turned serious, "We might be able to do something with it"

"Okay."

"Hideout maybe..." then thinking of Mikey shouted out, "or game room!"

"Uh yeah…" hearing the depressing tones in her voice Mindy frowned.

"Hey! Depression rubs off on me!"

"Sorry."

"What's wrong?"

"It's not important."

"You're not happy here?" Lily hesitated before answering.

"Nope."

"Oh…" Mindy mumbled trying to think of something she could to do help the problem.

"But that's not it."

"You can go back… I'm make Mikey take your stuff back…really wha-"suddenly Mindy's shell cell rang. She picked it up and answered it.

"What's up?" Mindy listened but didn't respond. Lily hadn't suspected anything but now she watched Mindy's face worriedly.

"What happened?" Lily asked quietly. Mindy didn't respond. Lily continued to watch her anxiously when the other end cut short. Mindy's face was pale white as she dropped the phone and stood up not even wincing as if she was some controlled robot. Lily stood up next to her and shook her hard.

"What happened!?" Mindy flinched, coming slightly back to her original self.

"Ouch!" Mindy fell back onto the couch covering her head in her hands, "The guys!"

"Sorry! Wha-what happened to them?" Lily plopped down next to her fighting the need to hug her tightly.

"Shredder has them…."

"We need to help them!" Lily practically shouted though she already knew that was impossible.

"I can't! I can't even stand up!" Lily didn't feel like reminding her that she just had.

"Uhhh….and I can't do anything," Lily sighed and slumped back onto the couch. Tears trickled down Mindy's face.

"I have to go there or he'll kill them!" Lily shook her head and thought about it.

"Do they have any allies?"

"Other than me no..."

"Uh…!" Lily moaned again in frustration.

"They'll die…" Mindy whimpered.

"There's nothing we can do!" Lily started desperately, "Does Don have anything to help?"

"He has them all!" Mindy shouted at her

"Ugg come on! This is hopeless…"

"They…are...going…to…die," Mindy said slowly as if Lily didn't understand the danger. Then she stood up again trying to hide the grimaces. As she walked out the door stiffly she shouted over her shoulder, "I'm going."

"You can't!" Lily shouted after her and ran to catch up.

"I am," she said simply.

"Shredder will kill you too!" Mindy ignored her and kept walking till she came to Shredders's lair. They'd known for some time with there being Shredder's symbol on the front of the building.

"Mindy!" Lily yelled at Mindy waving a hand in front of her face desperate to stop her. There Shredder stood right in front of them in all his evilness. If he was terrifying earlier he was a nightmare now. The blades on his hands gleamed with the desire to see blood. The turtles were in the background trying to fend themselves off from Shredders ninja minions. It wasn't going very well.

"Let them go and you can have me!" Mindy shouted in his face, her bottom lip sticking out stubbornly.

"No!" yelled Lily trying to drag Mindy back to safety.

"Oh Mindy," Shredder spoke soothingly, "I was going to kill them either way." Shredder stepped closer and grabbed Mindy tightly by the shoulder swinging his other hand around so the blades just barely pierced her neck.

"I'd hoped the poison had taken care of you!" he growled.

"Mindy!" Lily struggled to get her loose of the villains clutches, but to no avail. Shredder shoved her away with his hand flinging her onto the floor.

"Take them away!" Shredder shouted and the minions cornered the turtles making them into the back.

"Mindy!" Lily called frantically and got to her feet. Suddenly Shredder pulled out a vile with a sluggish black oily liquid inside.

"Mindy, would you like to say good bye to them before dying?" he said pleasantly.

"I hate you," Mindy's whisper was full of loathing and she tried to get away.

"I already know that fool," he retorted happily.

"Mindy!" cried Lily yet again and ran at Shredder head on planning to grab Mindy and get out of there as quick as possible. Shredder kicked Lily away sending her sprawling out the building doors. As Lily scrambled back onto her feet and tried to run back in the heavy doors closed shut.

"Uhhh!" Lily yelled and pounded on the doors. From inside Lily could hear Mindy's bloodcurdling screams of pain. Lily wiped away the tears that dropped from her eyes and hit the doors harder till her knuckles were bright red.

Inside Shredder's lair things were starting to go wrong for him. Raphael had just momentarily thought of Mindy and the horrible things he must be doing to her and had broke free of his ninjas.

"SHREDDER I HOPE SOME DAY I'LL KILL YA WITH MY OWN HANDS!" Raph roared to the sky before taking out three minions at once with his sai. With Raphael out he managed to help his other brothers get free too holding Michelangelo up by one arm. Donatello heard bawls and dug in his duffle bag looking for the needle. He didn't have enough time to open the locked doors but he managed to slide the shot under the door and shout out "powers!" before running back to help Leonardo.

"Please work!" Lily murmured to herself looking for the tiger in her. It was gone. She couldn't feel anything and though she knew she wouldn't she still tried, but it was just an empty pit, not even a tiny spark. The sound of something rolling on concrete made Lily look down. A shot with a purple liquid lay at her feet.

"Thank you!" Lily shouted at the door and took it not waiting a second before turning into the great feline. Then she barreled into the doors showing her large teeth as she grinned at putting the doors on their hinges.

"AHH!" Shredder cried out as he saw the tiger coming towards him. As Lily sunk her claws into him, he screamed out again. Shredder brought his blades around and almost decapitated her if she hadn't jumped off of him. He then got to his armored feet and then ran down the hall and out of sight. They had to hold Raph back from going after them even though they wanted to get him too.

They wanted to go after him but from recent experience they knew that he was already gone for good, at least until he showed himself again. Lily turned human and walked over to Don her expression sunken into sadness.

"I guess you're going to have to take my powers away again."

"No, I'm going to help you learn how to control it," Don said smiling at her. A huge grin spread across Lily's face.

"Really!? Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Lily exclaimed and jumped up and down excitedly. Don nodded then looked around the room. On the far side Mindy was laying motionless.

"Mindy!" Lily cried and ran over to her. Don followed after her and gingerly picked her up in his arms. The little group made their way to the lair with Donatello and Lily in the lead. Raph was still steaming, but kept it to himself to be quiet for Mindy's sake. When they got there Don could hardly keep Lily from Mindy's side no matter what.

Lily watched her with intense worry. Please Mindy, hold in there. Don't leave us. Besides waving his hand at Lily to try and make her go away Don has his entire concentration set on Mindy. After many hours of constant labor Don sighed with relief and Mindy's eyes fluttered open full of panic.

"Where is he?" Mindy asked searching the room, her eyes wide. Lily shook her head trying to stop yawning and focus on Mindy.

"Oh! Mindy you're okay...thank goodness. Where is who?"

"I...I don't know…but I saw him!" Mindy looked around again and Lily grabbed her hand tight trying to calm her down. Mindy tried to sit up, but Donatello pressed her back down worried she might get sick if she moved too fast. Leo came over to Lily and whispered in her ear.

"She's just had a dream…"

"Oh…" relief flooded Lily but she and the two turtles still watched Mindy in anxiety.

"What did he look like?" Don asked her.

"He…was tall um…thin and…work dark clothes," Mindy said trying to think of anything more. Donatello nodded and started shuffling through numerous drawers and containers. It was several minutes before he finally found it. He pulled out a wooden picture frame and put it in Mindy's out reached hands.

"Did he look like this?"

It was a picture of a crowd on the subway. There were tons of people in the picture, each different and very distracted as they tried to hurry onto the underground train. Though, one man did seem to stick out. He has black sunglasses on, short black hair, a white shirt with a black tie and pants, and a dark overcoat trailing down to his black shoes. He was thin and very tall, just like Mindy has said. Mindy nodded.

"Yes, yes…right…that's him…..why did he come to me?" Mindy murmured the last part to herself so that no one heard. Don looked at Mindy as if she has messed up two-plus-two.

"This is a picture of Bishop."

"Who's that?" Lily asked raking her brain. He looks so familiar!

"No…No he wasn't, he couldn't…he was so nice, and he talked to me so sweetly….like…like a father. Who is he? He couldn't be Bishop!" Suddenly a light bulb went off in Lily's head.

"Wait! Did you say Bishop!?"

"Yes, why?" Don asked suspiciously.

"Well I've had an encounter with Bishop before and it wasn't all that pleasant". Don turned to Mindy.

"What did he say?" Mindy thought a moment before answering.

"Um…he said 'It's okay, you'll get through this. Don't doubt yourself, you're strong enough. You'll make it. We can get through this...'" Don's mouth swung open like the automatic cabinets he'd been working on last week.

"What!?"

"He said that, exactly!" Mindy responded.

"He says stuff like that, he's a liar," Lily growled.

"But you don't understand! I've heard Bishop's voice before, his fake voice. This was different. He was really worried….scared I would die."

"Creepy…" Lily murmured. Suddenly Donatello's eyes drifted to one of Mindy's closed hands. It seemed a little bulkier than the other as if it contained something. The hand slowly opened.

"Here's proof," Mindy whispered. A silver necklace was tucked inside her palm, a heart shaped locket dangling at the end. It was open. It looked exactly like the man Mindy had described.

"He gave this to me when I saw him." Don watched Mindy with much worry in his eyes as he saw her hug the locket close to her heart. Lily shuddered.

"I just had a scary thought," she murmured. Don turned his attention to her.

"What Lily?"

"What if…Bishop was Mindy's father?" Mindy went into her bursting riot.

"How!? My father died years ago!" Lily shrugged.

"Maybe he faked it so he could do his evil job." Don took the necklace carefully out of Mindy's hand and did tests on it scanning for DNA or finger prints left that would lead to helping them see if anything was similar to Mindy. Lily drummed her fingers on the table and bit her lip continuously. Patience wasn't her forte. Finally Don came back. His face looked grave and rigid.

"Find anything yet?"

"Yeah."

"What did you find?" Lily insisted. Don ignored her and looked straight at Mindy as if she were about to betray them and attack the lair.

"Mindy..."

"Don..." she looked at him warily.

"Lily was correct..."


	4. Episode 4, The Dark Disguised by Light

"How!?" Mindy jerked up in astonishment.

"Wow..." Lily started dumbfounded.

"So…he's my father...how? I…" her voice drifted off to finish somewhere in her thoughts.

"What are we going to do!?" Lily exclaimed, "It's not like we can kill him now"

"I don't know," Mindy admitted, "All I know is if there's one person he's not going to kill and that's fairly obvious."

"Yeah."

"I'll try and convince him that you're my friends," Mindy suggested.

"Like that'll work," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Really! If I'm his daughter I could do something to keep you guys safe!" Lily shook her head and grabbed Mindy's shoulder.

"Mindy, he's Bishop, people like him don't change."

"So…maybe he'll have a grudge on me forever. It's not like I won't try! If I had to choose, I would pick you five over my own father. I hope you believe that," Mindy started to whisper at the end with a pleading voice.

"He won't have a grudge. He'll either capture you and kill us or make you join him to supposedly spare our lives then kill us," Lily stated and folded her arms defensively.

"Fine, think that but I won't!" Mindy yelled in her face.

"Fine!" Lily shouted back. Michelangelo came into the room making a face of disgust.

"Girls fighting…..I hate it..." Mindy and Lily glared at each other.

"Everybody does" Lily replied.

"Mikey I feel like punching you! And you know it would hurt!" Mindy pronounced. Mikey ran to away from her wraith. She then stomped to her room.

"Uhhh! Mindy!" Lily yelled and went to her new room.

Mindy huffed sitting on her bed with a pen and piece of paper in front of her. The letter would be sent to her beloved father.

Dear Bishop A.K.A. Father,

If you are truly my dad, you'll stop fighting the turtles; if you refuse, I will disown you. If my brothers are ever hurt, I'll kill myself.

-Mindy

Mindy's room, along with everyone else's, had a window. It was normal looking inside but their windows and the front door were camouflaged to look exactly like the rest of the sewer. It was so well hidden once in a blue moon one of them would forget it though everybody had lived there long enough to know where it was and Lily had the memory of an elephant, or tiger. And, of course, she had written an elaborate diagram to help her in tough spots. Now Mindy looked at that window and grabbing her note, jumped out of it, and ran to daylight.

After Lily and Mindy had run to their room from the fight Leo was terribly worried. He wasn't much or an arguer, that was Raphael's job, but he was even more confused. Both had their points but Mindy was his adopted sister after all. Leonardo walked over to Mindy's room quietly and softly knocked on her door hoping for no teen drama. But to his surprise he didn't get an answer, not even the shuffle of movement.

"Mindy?" he called with a hint of unease. He knocked on the door again, louder and more frantic. Lily heard him and crept out of her room to see what was going on. Leo then proceeded to opening the door and looking in.

"Min-oh no…" his voice turned to a whisper and his shoulders sagged.

"What?" Lily asked and looked inside too. They stared at the open window dumbly till Lily sprang into action.

"We have to go find her!"

"She's after Bishop," he informed as if that might have made a difference if she had gone or not.

"Uhhh!" Lily moaned and ran out of the lair. Leo turned to Don for any ideas. He was thinking hard, a look of determination etched onto his face. Slowly Donatello looked up at Leonardo.

"Oh no… this is bad…I just realized something," Donatello stood up all of a sudden staring at Leo in horror, "Bishop is not her father! She didn't see bishop in her dream, it was her uncle. She saw her uncle Josh, her only living relative"

Somehow Lily managed to find bishops evil lair; either from smelling her out with her tiger senses or the continuing shouts of rage that echoed from a large building we will never know how she did it. She sneaked inside disappointed that she didn't have to go through flesh cutting lasers like in the movies and peeked around a corner where Bishop was gripping a note and reading it. When he had finished Lily could see that his face was permanent hatred central.

"What's this!?" he bellowed and ripped the note in half. Bishop stepped forward grabbing Mindy by the arms and holding her fast.

"What was that!?"

"But…." Mindy said in terror and confusion. Lily jumped away from the corner ready to do battle.

"Let her go!" Bishop whirled around to face Lily.

"Do you know anything about this miss? This note?"

"You're Mindy's father!" she said in disbelief thinking he would have read the note a little more carefully, "Now let her go!"

"What! I am not, liar!"

"Don't lie! Now let Mindy go or I will attack!" she warned.

"Let me go!" Mindy pleaded, "what's going on, I saw you last night!"

"What!?" Bishop red face had subsided to show complete perplexity. Lily had had enough of this game and turned into the tiger set to attack. Just then the turtles showed up, their weapons put away.

"Let her go, it was a misunderstanding!" Leo cried looked desperately at Mindy still in Bishop's clutches. Just as Lily was about to pounce she paused surprised to see the guys here.

"What!?" she said in as much incredulity as Bishop had just done.

"Lily!" Donatello ran over to her whispering in her ear all that had been figured out. Lily turned human almost pouting.

"This stinks." but Michelangelo had thought they were coming to fight and was confident in getting one.

"Attack him!" he yelled at Lily, "He's not related to her, she won't be mad!" Lily agreed and certainly didn't like it that Mindy was still held by the bad guy. She turned tiger once more and leaped at the two of them. Mindy screams and Mikey then yelled "Watch out for Mindy though!" Lily shoved Mindy away just in time before going for Bishop. Mindy landed with a thud on the floor.

"Ouch." Lily managed a quick 'sorry!' before clawing at Bishop again. Bishop fell hard on the ground horror stricken across his face his hand raised over his head.

"Please no!" he begged.

"No Lily, stop! Don't hurt him!" Mindy called and ran at Lily pulling her away from Bishop before she could take another swipe at him. Noticing Mindy, Lily gazed at her enraged.

"What! Why!"

"You are not a murderer! Control yourself!" Lily turned human; her arms folded and bottom lip sticking out.

"Fine," she murmured, "So what now? He'll want to kill us now for attacking." Mindy glared at Mikey.

"Yeah Mikey! What now?" Mikey looked at her nervously.

"Ehhheheh…." Bishop had dug in his pocket and come out with a gun and had now started shooting every which way hoping to find a target.

"Get back!" Mindy shrieked. Lily ducked at the right instant.

"Wow!" by some means Mindy managed to dodge and duck through bullets, getting to Bishop. She punched him hard in the face making a stream of red come from his nose.

"Oh, so I can't hurt him but you can!" Lily stated. Mindy ignored her, full of fury to protect her loved ones.

"Leave them alone!" after Mindy had added a black eye to the collection of injuries, Bishop grabbed her fist tight in his hand and whipped the gun around pressing the barrel to her head.

"Uh oh," Mindy whispered.

"Nobody move!" Bishop roared. Everyone froze in their place.

"Drop your weapons," he instructed the turtles. They slowly put them down on the floor. Then Bishop turned his attention to Mindy.

"Mindy, choose, your life? Or theirs?" Mindy thought she heard a pin drop somewhere.

"Both!" and with that she kicked his gun out of his hands and grabbed it.

"Yes!" Lily declared.

"Guards!" Bishop hollered. Troops of soldiers came marching in each holding a pistol.

"Uh oh," Lily said and turned tiger. Thinking that Lily was going to try and kill them all Mindy shouted at her.

"Lily no!" Lily instantly turned human looking at her agitated.

"I didn't do anything!" Bishop snuck behind Mindy gripping a long knife. Bishop his stabbed her with it, smiling pleasantly as he saw it come out her other side. Mindy was in too much shock she couldn't scream but collapsed on the floor her face frozen in astonishment.

"No!" Lily screamed and tried to run to her. Bishops soldiers took aim and fired at Lily. Lily screeched in agony and fell to the ground turning back to human form instantly. Bishop grabbed Mindy's motionless body and took her away. Lily gasped for air, her breathing shallow. Donatello grabbed her and took her to the lair leaving his brothers to fend off the soldiers. Lily manages to moan weakly her eyes fluttering open.

"Get Mindy!" she whispered weakly before sinking into unconsciousness. Leo and Raph were knocking out soldiers left and right sending roundhouse kicks to everyone in range. Mikey was ecstatic.

"Woohooo! They're droppin' like flies! Ha ha!"

Back at the lair Lily was doing just fine and had woken up. She jerked up into sitting position ignoring the dull pain that came to her and the tight bandages covering her body.

"Where's Mindy!?" Donatello hung his head putting away his medic equipment.

"With Bishop," he replied sadly.

"We have to save her!" Lily started and tried to get off the lab table. Don quickly pushed her back down using a stern voice.

"You're staying here."

"Well if I can't go then you should! And by the way I'm fine!"

"We're staying here," he corrected giving her a severe look.

"Uhhh!" she grumbled lying on her back so she was staring at the ceiling, "why don't we go save her?" she asked.

"Because the guys have it under control," in a lower voice he said to himself, "I hope." Lily heard him.

"Oh great" Lily sighed.

So far only one of the turtles had minor control. Bishop had managed to knock out Michelangelo and Raphael leaving Leonardo to defend for himself against the villain.

"Now it's just you and me," Bishop uttered triumphantly.

"Yeah and it'll be just me soon," Leo retorted. Leonardo twirled his katana's nearly slicing Bishop in half if he hadn't step sided so quickly. Bishop threw in a punch armed only with his bare hands but Leo ducked the throw. It went on like this for several long minutes, playing the deadly game of hit and run. Leo was able to draw a deep cut in his arm and along his cheek while Bishop had given a black eye and several other painful bruises to Leo. They were both sweating badly from exertion.

Leonardo finally had Bishop backed into a corner and was about to end all the misery when Bishop jumped over Leonardo's head and landed on his feet neatly before kicking Leo to the ground. His katana's scattered from his hands just out of reach when Bishop pulled out his gun again aiming at Leo's head.

"Now to finish you off," he exclaimed smugly. The echo of a dog's bark suddenly came to them. The dog sounded big.

"What th-"Bishop didn't have time to say the rest because then a great wolf barreled into him. It had thick dark gray fur and icy blue eyes. He was knocked off his feet landing hard on his back. The wolf growled at him menacingly showing long fangs. Bishop swiftly got to his feet again only to be confronted again by Leo. Just before Leonardo could finish him off, the wolf howled loud and long. It startled Leo breaking his endless concentration giving Bishop just enough time to make an escape. The wolf ran the other way out of sight but not quite out of mind.

"Darn," Leo murmured knowing it would be hopeless to track Bishop down. Besides, he couldn't leave his unconscious brothers here.

Lily was getting impatient, as usual.

"Are they back yet?" she asked yet again. She tried to sit up again but went back to laying down when she saw Donatello glare at her.

"We'd know," Don reminded her. A few minutes passed before the rest of the turtles finally arrived. They were all grunting in pain and helping each other to walk straight, a slow and ever painful process.

"Finally!" Lily stated with relief until she turned her head and saw their battered weary faces "You guys okay?"

"We couldn't find Mindy…" Leo said, his head drooping with the most tortured expression Lily had ever seen.

"He must still have her," Lily thought aloud not knowing that she was adding more guilt and despair to the beaten bunch.

"We couldn't find her anyway...so I guess he did take her…" Leo's thoughts finally blended with Lily's.

"We have to go find her!" Lily said again in a more demanding voice. Wincing ever so slightly, she got off the lab table and stumbled out the front door.

"Someday they're gonna kill themselves trying to save each other's lives…" Raphael inquired.

"I mean seriously!" Mikey spoke, "It's gonna happen, come on you see it too Leo!" Michelangelo looked expectantly at Leonardo. He nodded.

"It's a possibility."

Lily had turned into her tiger the second the lair door was behind her though it wasn't the most fun transformation she had had. Donatello had given her something that eased more than enough of the pain but it didn't qualify for turning into a really big feline. Luckily the only pain she assumed she would get would be changing back and forth.

With her nose to the ground she tried to sniff out Mindy in the dark alleyways and streets. She thought no one would mind too much if a Bengal tiger came walking down their street. Lily never noticed the sudden appearance of the wolf.

It gave its bone chilling howl sending shivers down Lily's furry spine. She looked up flattening her ears and growling a deep growl; it cut short at the end as she winced in pain. The wolf barked at her. Thinking the wolf thought her weak she stepped forward for a challenge.

The wolf ran into the central park forest disappearing between the shadows. Lily shook her head and dropped her head to sniff the ground again. As she went down an alley way she heard a distant familiar voice.

"There you are!" Donatello called coming into view. Lily looked up from her sniffing.

"I can't find her scent," she informed gloomily turning back to human grimacing less than before. Don showed her a mini computer he was holding and started typing on it.

"I've been using my minicomputer here and used Mindy's DNA to search…and I'm getting a signal!"

"Where!?" Lily asked excitedly. Donatello pointed a green finger at the woods where the wolf has just disappeared into still looking at the computer screen.

"It's coming from there." Lily's excited expression turned confused.

"There's a creepy wolf in there," she informed warily.

"That's not good..." then on a slightly lighter note he said, "hopefully she's safe."

"I'll check it out to make sure it's safe." before Lily could go running off again the wolf appeared walking across a surprisingly empty street.

"Wait look!" Don said. He pointed to the wolf. Thinking the wolf was back to accept her previous challenge she turned tiger and growled warningly.

"The signal is gone. She must have run off after seeing the wolf," Donatello informed still starting at the screen. The wolf growled. Don looked up. It seemed to be staring right at him. Lily looked back and forth between the turtle and wolf. They'll be fine, Don has his ninja weapon and the wolf's given no sign of attacking. I have to find Mindy before it's too late; she can't sleep on the streets of New York!

Then Lily ran into the woods quickly becoming shielded by the dark canopy. The wolf ceased its growling and took to staring at Donatello. Without warning the wolf suddenly bound forward and grabbed Don's computer in its teeth and smashed it on the ground where it broke into millions of tiny pieces.

The wolf growled again and Donatello stared back at it in amazement. Lily heard the break and thought maybe the wolf had somehow overpowered Don. She ran back out of the woods till she saw them and Don pulling out his Bo staff. Don swung it at the wolf that side stepped coming up behind him then knocked him down with a paw.

"Smart thing," Donatello replied getting to his feet. Donatello took another swing at it and finally managed to hit it. Before the wolf had a chance to escape again Lily ran into it shoulder first, knocking back down. The wolf howled in pain and Lily stepped back. The wolf closed its eyes and tried to look weak letting out a faint whimper.

"Faker," Lily growled at it. Suddenly the wolf jumped up and sprinted back into the woods.

"That's one smart wolf."

"Too smart…" Lily snarled in response.

"I don't understand…" Don confessed looking hopeless.

"What? That we're not dead?"

"What are you thinking it could be?" Don asked her looking for pointers. Lily shook her head.

"I have no clue."

"What if it's Bishop?"

"I don't think he's a shift shaper," Lily reminded him.

"You never know, what if he did something? He's pretty smart," Lily chuckled, thinking of all the things he would have done to make a wolf behave like that.

"Yeah," Lily glanced into the woods and saw two circular yellow eyes gazing back. The wolf was watching us the whole time! Lily growled at it.

"It's back." the wolf growled back in response and stepped out of the woods, head lowered. Lily tensed, ready for whatever the wolf had in mind. Abruptly the wolf jumped at Lily and Lily followed in its example, claws extended. Before the two could make contact a pair of sai flew through the air and struck the wolf.

"Did I get 'im?" Raph asked jogging up to them. Lily landed back on all fours.

"Wow…yeah"

"Sure did," Don said miserably.

"Alright!" Raphael punched the air with his fist. The wolf howled in pain and weakly escaped to the woods.

"Come on we're wasting time!" Lily told them and walked in the direction of the woods. Lily's going to attack it again! Donatello thought.

"Wait! It's been hurt enough, leave it alone!" Raph rolled his eyes.

"He's a softy for animals."

"I'm not going to do anything to it," Lily reassured him. Lily crossed over from the street to the woods in search for Mindy. Lily squinted in the gloom as she thought she spotted a human form among the bushes.

"Oh no…the wolf got her!" Lily ran up to Mindy and turned human looking at her horrified. Mindy was scraped from head to toe with scratches and even a pair of wounds.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked holding her hand tightly. As Don came and examined her cuts Mindy finally came to her senses and started waking up.

"Where am I?"She inquired weakly. She slowly sat up on her hand.

"In Manhattan." Lily could never be sure how much she didn't remember. Don gave her a look before turning his attention back to Mindy.

"You're in the woods." Mindy's face turned from confused to startled.

"What! How did I get here?" Don tilted his head in question.

"You mean you don't know?" Mindy shook her head in response. Lily considered another line of thought.

"Have you seen Bishop or a wolf?" Mindy didn't have to think too much on that.

"Bishop…yeah, when I was in the old warehouse where his hideout was…kind of like Shredder's… he knocked me out and now I'm here….but a wolf?" Lily nodded and looked at Mindy's cuts again.

"We were attacked by one and thought it got a hold of you." Don wasn't speaking. He seemed unaware of any conversation going on and was entirely focused on Mindy's shoulder. Donatello pinched the gray hair on her shoulder between his fingers and inspected it.

"This is from the wolf…its gray." Lily's features became hard and she gritted her teeth.

"Mindy, are you sure you didn't see a wolf," Mindy nodded to Don.

"I'm sure," she reassured him. Lily was getting anxious.

"We need to get her back home." Lily looked to Raph for agreement. She knew that they both cared deeply for Mindy would favor in her judgment. But Raph wasn't paying attention to her; he was looked at his sai which were only a few feet away. Raphael closed that distance and picked them up looking at them as if they were a pair of Mikey's socks. They were stained red. He brushed it off and slid them in their loops. Mindy was looked quite scared.

"Something's…not right…I saw Bishop….when I was still in the warehouse….so how would I have been here?" Lily tried to point some light on the subject.

"Did you see any explosions?" Mindy looked at her like she was nuts.

"What? No," Lily sighed.

"Well we're not getting very many answers so let's get out of here."

"Okay," Mindy agreed.

"I'm staying to look for this wolf thing," Raph responded, "somethin's fishy." no one bothered to tell him that they weren't far from the ocean. Lily's eyes lit up at his reply.

"I'm coming with you." she was just as eager to find the monster that had injured Mindy.

"Okay, see you guys," Don answered back and carefully helped Mindy to her feet. When they had disappeared out of sight in the direction of the lair Lily turned on her tiger. Raph was busy in his own thoughts for several minutes before coming out with them.

"Lily, don't you think it's strange? Mindy disappears; the wolf shows up...we look for Mindy, no sign...we find Mindy, the wolf disappears…"

"I guess," Lily shrugged. She didn't bother in too many details.

"It's too much coincidence to me."

"Yeah," Lily had hardly heard him. She was entirely focused on signs of the wolf. A furry tail zipping by in the woods caught Raphael's eye and he pointed at the swiftly moving shadow.

"Hey Lily!" now he had captured her attention. The noticed the familiar glint of yellow as the wolf's eyes shown. The wolf had noticed them and was now starting to run back deeper into the woods. Raph and Lily both ran after it at the exact same time. They weren't going to let it get away this time. Between then they quickly over powered it and Raph flattened it to the ground. Lily looked at it in astonishment.

"Wow."

"Hey it got smaller." Raph huffed. And it seemed it had. It was at about twice as small as the other one that had out smarted and escaped them. Its yellow eyes showed true terror and it tried to get away. Lily's heart softened.

"Let it go! It doesn't seem right to attack it…" Raph shook his head.

"The other one was tough. This one's a chicken…can't be the same." Raph got off of the wolf and watched as it raced off much faster than it had before.

"There might be a whole pack" Lily thought aloud, the fur on her back standing up. Laps of time massed in their search for the real wolf. The trudged along, their determination slowly but surely ebbing away as they circled around central park. They glimpsed the small wolf trotting around but didn't bother to harass it again. They only made it half way before the complaints came. Raphael was the first to go.

"We've searched this whole place and we've only seen the little one."

"Well it might have just been the bait. Wolves don't normally live by themselves." Raph didn't buy into it too much.

"Could be, shou-" Raphael's shell cell started ringing. He popped it open and pressed a button.

"Hello?" he answered. Don's crackled loudly from the shell cell.

"Um...We found the wolf," his voice seemed strained and uncertain.

"What?"

"Where is it?" Raphael and Lily both answered in excitement.

"Get over here," Don grunted "now please."

"Uh…okay." Raphael didn't like the sound of that. Don's fighting somethin' without me! Raph and Lily ran to the lair more than curious about what was up. The second they barged through the lair doors they saw Donatello, Leonardo, and Michelangelo with their shoulder pressed hard against Mindy's bedroom door as they tried to barricade whatever was causing the clatter from behind it.

"What's in there!?"

"What's going on?" Don answered their questions.

"Well…we're not quite sure…Mindy goes to bed, the next thing we know there's a crash...we see broken glass all over the floor and the wolf's standing on Mindy's bed."

"So, you're saying the wolf got through the window? Is Mindy okay?" Raphael questioned. Lily flexed her claws.

"I'll take care of it." Don's eyes went wide.

"No!" He practically shouted at her. Raph and Lily looked at him like he had gone crazy.

"Why not?" Lily asked him slowly. His face was serious.

"I think…that…the wolf…is Mindy." Raphael and Lily exploded on him.

"What! How?"

"What!?"

"I'm not sure…but think about it…" they thought about it for a good three seconds.

"Do you think it was the poison?"

"Well…what do we do!?"

"I'm not sure!" Don responded hopelessly, "I can't tell." Lily looked back at the door that was bumping and fighting back.

"How do we calm her down?" Suddenly the door came off its hinges landing on top of Donatello who hadn't moved away in time.

"Wow!" Lily exclaimed jumping in surprise. The wolf unexpectedly jumped onto the door, receiving an oomph of air from Don, and snarled at them showing her long fangs.

"Whatever we do it we'd better do it now!" Leo practically shouted at them. Raphael took the task of holding Mindy down though it certainly wasn't as easy as it was with the smaller, less aggressive wolf. Lily turned anxious.

"Be careful!"

"What else do we do!? Let Mindy kill us!" Don finally managed to slide himself from out of the door and get to his feet. Lily noticed his freedom.

"No! Don, make that stuff you made for me when I was out of control." Lily's voice trailed off at the end remembering all too well about the experience. Don didn't catch on to her sad reflection.

"I don't have time!" Lily sighed shaking her tiger head.

"Well what else could go wrong!?"

"All I have is…" Don glanced over at the tranquilizer, "this, it shouldn't hurt her"

"Shouldn't, great!" Leo said sarcastically.

"It'll work," Lily said stiffly.

"What if it doesn't?" Leo shot back.

"Well, I'm not the smart one!" Lily snapped in return.

"Guys! I can't hold her back much longer!" Suddenly Michelangelo came over and hit Mindy on the head knocking her out cold.

"Uh…" Raphael looked at him a little warily.

"Wow," Lily replied again. The wolf slumped to the floor and leisurely transformed into a curled up Mindy. Her tail and snout gradually disappeared along with her gray fur which became her black hair. She was only asleep for about ten seconds. Her eyes fluttered open instantly after the ten second mark.

"Ouch…." Raphael glared at Mikey. Mindy looked about the lair seeing her door on the floor with her room trashed so bad it would have looked foul in Mikey standards.

"What th-what happened here!?"

"Long story short, I think you're a werewolf," Lily replied.

"What? But I was asleep in my room!"

"That's what we thought."

"You mean you don't recall anything?" Leo asked her.

"No."

"Weird," Lily thought aloud. Don was already in his lab starting to make some purple concoction with shots lined up on the table.

"We're gonna need this." Lily shuddered.

"So….this is why I woke up in the forest? With cuts I had no idea where they came from?"

"Yep," Lily said simply.

"And soon found where they came from." Mindy looked towards Raphael and Lily. Raphael started first.

"Heh…sorry, but thank goodness for Don's soft spot for animals….we might have killed you." now it was Mindy's turn to shudder in horror. Lily looked down at the floor in shame when she noticed not human feet, but orange and black striped paws.

"Oops." she reacted and turned back to human form barely noticing the prick of soreness when she did so.

"Lily it's okay," Mindy replied, "It's not your fault….but I do have one question….if it isn't anger…and it isn't the full moon…what causes me turning wolf?"

"Maybe its fear which is somehow let out as anger?" she suggested.

"But I wasn't scared or mad or sad or anything when I went to bed."

"Yeah, but you must have been afraid after you were out of Bishop's place."

"Yeah….but it wouldn't take that long would it?" Lily shook her head.

"I don't know"

"If it had to do with emotions it would happen immediately" Donatello offered cutting momentarily into the conversation.

"That makes sense" Lily agreed. Mindy was busy thinking.

"Wait…" she said slowly.

"What?"

"When I was in the forest, I was tired when I woke up, not so much scared…I was just curious…wondering how I got there…but I just remembered…I went to bed and I dreamt you were all…" Mindy shuddered, "dead…and...I woke up crying and angry but then I suddenly fell asleep…which was probably when I turned wolf…so it probably is emotion! I was angry…with whoever killed you all in my dream and it kicked in…so every time I'm scared im going to turn into a monster!" a sob escaped Mindy's mouth as she put her head in her hands, "Somehow as a wolf I just don't realize you're not enemies…"

"You're not a monster!" Lily soothed, trying to stop the tears.

"I can't believe you can feel normal!" Lily nodded.

"It'll soon become a normal thing and it gets much easier."

"I'm not used to it Lily…I don't know what to do. I feel unsafe to everyone." Lily went brain dead and momentarily forgot all that had happened as if it had been her when she was in control.

"Well if it's that bad then try not to change and if you do just try and be careful." Mindy went wild.

"I don't even know when I'm a wolf, Lily! I wake up unsure how I got there." seeing that her emotions were starting to get out of hand Mindy took several deep breathes to slow down her heart. It seemed that Lily's head had finally exploded.

"I am so confused! This is so difficult! I wish my dad was here…he would be able to help you."

"How?" Lily had caught Mindy's attention.

"He knew about my power and everything that was to know about shaft shifting."

"This is different though….its technically not shaft shifting," Lily shrugged.

"It's similar," suddenly Lily had a brilliant idea, "Mindy…."

"What?" Mindy answered warily.

"Do you believe in ghosts?"


End file.
